Simon Tisdall is absolutely right (China is leading the charge to nuclear Armageddon – and Starmer barely noticed, 1 February). From our prime minister to the person in the street, no one is talking about nuclear weapons, yet nuclear weapons states are busy modernising their arsenals and, in China’s case, increasing the numbers. Treaties supposed to limit nuclear proliferation have failed or are failing. Concern about this in civil society is minimal, and in parliament only a few of us address it as a matter of urgency. I can understand that climate change, AI, Gaza and Ukraine are all issues of pressing and immense concern.
In recent decades, the incidence of false alarms has brought the world to the brink of nuclear war more than once. The nuclear-non proliferation treaty review conference will take place in April this year. The last two NPTs have largely failed; this time world leaders, including our prime minister, must ensure that at the very least the trajectory is changed from the current one.
The goal of a world without nuclear weapons is vanishingly far away. But there are diplomatic and practical steps that could make us all much safer.
Sue Miller
Liberal Democrat, House of Lords; co-president, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament
